How to Solder Jump Rings To A Stained Glass Sun Catcher

How To Make And Solder Hooks To Stained Glass

This stained glass tutorial shows you how to solder hooks to stained glass so that you can hang your piece up securely. You’ll learn how to make recycled jump rings and how to solder them neatly to your stained glass sun catcher. Making sure these final touches are done neatly will make your work stand out from the crowd.

Now you’ve created a lovely beaded solder around the edge of your piece, you’re ready to add the hooks. Ideally, these become part of your sun catcher, rather than just a means of hanging. Make them part of your design if you can.

Solder Hooks To Stained Glass

1. Make Your Own Jump Rings

You can make hooks yourself cheaply and easily. Either buy copper or tinned wire on a spool, or recycle electrical wire by stripping the plastic coating off with a craft knife. Be careful if you do this. Always direct the blade away from your body.

Making stained glass hooks for hanging

Simply wrap the wire around your cylindrical stick (I use a Japanese brush handle) about 15 times. You might as well make a few hooks and keep them for future stained glass projects

You can make larger jump rings by wrapping the wire around a thicker stick

Cut the ‘spring’ to create hanging hooks

Cut the wire and slide off the stick. You have created a spring of copper wire

Using the wire cutters, cut along the top in a straight line

Magic! Lots of hooks ready for tinning

2. Soldering The Hooks On

When you solder hooks to stained glass the hooks should always be soldered at a joint for strength. Never attach one on a beaded edge, as the weight of the glass will pull the foil off in time. Make sure you solder on a heat resistant surface.

You need to tin the hooks first to strengthen them and to stop corrosion.

Cheap, recycled hooks for hanging stained glass

Flux the hook

Hold the hook with the pliers, and smear solder on the front and back to cover all the copper

Now hang your sun catcher over the edge of your work bench

Flux the tinned hook and hold it where you want it attached. Make sure the open end of the hook is at the join (see photo, left below). The solder will close the ring and make it secure

Attaching open end of hook to sun catcher

Solder hooks to stained glass by carefully melting a blob of stained glass solder where the ring meets the sun catcher

Hold the soldering iron over the solder to neaten it up

Turn the piece over and, if needed, use the iron to melt any solder that may have dripped to the other side

Hook soldered to stained glass

3. Cleaning and Polishing

That’s it, you’re done! If it hasn’t turned out as neat as you’d like, let the solder cool before melting and having another go. Don’t re-do too often as the foil will start to come away from the glass.

Everything may look a bit messy at the moment, but that will soon change because now you’re ready for the final stage, Patina and Polish. You’ll soon end up with a sparkly finished panel to be proud of.

https://everythingstainedglass.com/how-to-stained-glasshttps://everythingstainedglass.com/wp-content/uploads/hanging-sun-catcher.jpghttps://everythingstainedglass.com/wp-content/uploads/hanging-sun-catcher-150x150.jpg2020-04-04T07:42:36+00:00Milly FrancesCopper Foil ConstructionStained Glass TutorialsFraming and Hanging,Soldering Copper FoilHow To Make And Solder Hooks To Stained Glass
This stained glass tutorial shows you how to solder hooks to stained glass so that you can hang your piece up securely. You'll learn how to make recycled jump rings and how to solder them neatly to your stained glass sun catcher....Milly FrancesMillyFrancesmillyfrances@gmail.comAdministratorEverything Stained Glass

41 Comments Already

Hi Milly,
I need help badly! I took on the task of repairing a large stained glass hanging I made 15 years ago as a gift. The hanger came off and I’ve been trying for a week to re-attache another hanger. I can’t get any solder to stick to the old lead came (and this was before they taught to use copper tape). The lead came looks and feels old. I did remove 6 inches and replaced it with new came but not where I need to put hangers. I have steel wooled and sanded on the old part I cut off and nothing will stick. The solder is Alphafey 50/50 solid wire, and another one made by Litton(Kester Solder) that’s all that’s on the label. I was able to solder fresh cut glass and new came into the damaged area but when I tried to put a hanger on nothing is working. Have tried too many things and am worn out!!! It is a very heavy piece so wanted to be sure to get good solid hangers on it this time. Any ideas? Sorry so long. Tough question since I feel like maybe I’m working with a lot of old supplies. You mentioned in one answer that she may not have gotten the soldering iron hot enough. Something else I need to learn. Thanks for any help.

You need to get back to the silver. Using a craft knife, scrape away the surface layer/s where you need to add the hanger and flux straight away once you have a silver area.
Make sure you have two separate hanging chains/wires rather than just the one; if one breaks it won’t crash to the floor.
I hope that helps.

I have made rings one at a time leaving a tail on each end, this gives a more secure attachment and I use gardening wire as it solders well. As the wire is silver without any coating I don’t have the problem of colour difference.

Milly, thanks for posting the wonderful Denise Whittle’s instructions for hanging things with fishing line and spinners. I was fortunate enough to be at one of the Hubbit Summits a couple years ago that took place in Kokomo IN. What a fun time and group!!!! One evening when the Hubbits got together Denise was kind enough to demonstrate this technique with the group. I’ve been using this method since she showed it to us.
I’m going to make one comment about the directions…I think it’s much easier to tin the wire before it’s wound on a stick and cut into lengths. I find it easier to tin a piece of straight wire than a small circle. Maybe that’s just me????
But BRAVO Denise. Another great story board.

Milly, I work in a glass store in Texas. We have lots of folks bringing in Granny’s suncatchers for repair. Sentimental value = high, monetary = low. Often it costs more to repair than it is worth. Most of the damages could have been prevented with a couple of steps. 1. Solder your rings on an existing joint. 2. Use small chain rather than fishing line as the fishing line will fail eventually. 3.Hang from two separate chains instead of a single chain in an arc. If one side fails with a single arced line, the whole piece hits the floor. With the two chain system, there is still a chain holding secure and the piece can be rescued before it is damaged beyond repair. My heart breaks for those customers whose precious pieces are damaged thru no fault of their own!

Very good warning points, thanks Sherry. Someone else said about fishing line failing… I’m going to look into that as I’ve never experienced that. I’ll add the 2 chains advice to the page; I do advise that but it needs to be on the page. Thanks for taking the time to remind us 🙂

Hi all. I’m a novice, so keen to draw on your experience in this tricky area. A thrifty tip I can pass on came from a friend who always checks the charity shops for jewellery with chains which can be repurposed to make decorative hanging media. It’s amazing what you can get for pennies!

I have done stained glass for many years and for many commissions, but I’m still not an expert. However, I do know one thing.
Fishing line aka monofilament is made to fish with. That means it is made to stay WET. When it drys off and out it WILL break under the weight of a glass piece. No matter the “weight” of the test line that one uses. This is NOT the best or only material to use. I have used the multi strand steel wire that’s nylon covered from the Jewelry department of most Craft/Hobby stores. Then you use the crimp/crush beads and the stained glass is safe. Provided the jump rings have been attached properly as has already been addressed in this Q&A.

Milly: Great article about attaching rings to suncatchers at structural supports. My comment makes creating those perfectly round hangers even easier: They are hard to tin one at a time. Tin the wire before wrapping the cylinder. BINGO … problem solved and much time saved!

Snipping the curved ends off of a paperclip also makes the perfect “jump ring.” I open a paperclip to where it looks like a skinny S, then use pliers to snip in half at the middle. I cross the longer part of the wire across the shorter part, and then snip off the extra from the shorter side. Then I take that longer part and line it up down a seam on my piece and solder it to hide the wire length. It’s perfect. And it takes patina!

Milly,
Very helpful tutorial and some nice comments as well. My question relates to actually putting this little piece of artwork on the window. It’s been my experience that temperature changes and/or humidity always cause the suction cup to eventually slip off and potentially break your creation. So, angry and determined to deny yourself the little oasis of beauty that brought so much pleasure, it doesn’t get RE-hung. Any thoughts on this pesky little problem?

Ha ha nicely put Annie! Yes, I should’ve warned about those suction cup hangers. You can regularly check them and re-attach them but truth be told, who of us will remember to do that? Better to drill a hook in and be certain.

I love doing stain glass BUT !!!!!! I can never get the o ring to stay solder or if I am making tiny bird legs and freather tails they don’t want to stick!!! I have fluxed then run solder over the o rings, feet and tails, but the just wouldn’t stay. HELP!!!!!

It should solder if it’s clean and copper or brass… It sounds as if you’re not heating up the solder enough so it’s rolling off.
Try holding the bird in a vice and soldering the legs together before soldering them to the body.

I want to thank you for sharing so much helpful information that took so much work and time to gain. My sister is a college-level art teacher who gave me my first stained glass lesson at least twenty years ago, but my life hit a huge pothole since and I became paralyzed on one side (by God’s grace it was my left side so I still have full use of my right hand. Since I have figured out how to do everything to live without help from others, I’m eager to pick up this great art form from where I left off. Your site has offered me great help and inspiration to figure out how to do everything necessary to make stained glass Art again. This is a blessing straight from God’s hand because doing stained glass and sewing were the two hardest things I had to give up even though I hadn’t reached my full potential with either of them. You can be sure that if I need help I’ll be going to your website. Mary Jo Hutson

You sound as if you have a great deal of determination Mary Jo! I’m glad to hear that you have managed to pick it up again and I hope the same can be said about your sewing. Thanks for your lovely comments about my site – you’re most welcome to visit anytime!

Milly, in your tutorial about making rings for hanging, you do everything I do and it works very well. I do have one suggestion that might be helpful, however. If you tin the wire before wrapping it around whatever you use to make the rings, it saves a lot of time and I have found it is much easier to tin the whole wire rather than one ring at a time.

About Milly

I've been working with stained glass for over - yikes! - 25 years now, both as a professional artist and as a trained teacher.
I savour those moments when my students suddenly start improving and realising what they’re REALLY capable of. I also enjoy playing 5-a side football (badly).